We had to leave Andre behind in Guatemala, his bike has been totaled. We stayed there another two nights with him and did what we could to help. Luckily for him he can afford to purchase another bike and hopefully he’ll catch us up as soon as he sorts out the paperwork and sells what’s left of his African Twin.
We left Guatemala city early Thursday morning escorted the 120km to the border by Juan and Ivan. I think they just wanted to make sure we got out of their country once and for all. Juan and Ivan have been great friends and support the whole time I’ve been in Guatemala, there two of the most wonderful guys you could meet. I really hope we can meet again some place some time.
I originally had planned on spending about 5 days in Guatemala but ended up staying almost 3 weeks. It’s a wonderful country with wonderful friendly people, I highly recommend it if you get the chance.

Hasta la Pasta Guatemala….. I hope to return some day.

Mark and Maggie and I crossed into El Salvador easily enough. It was the usual two hours of bullshit but fairly painless. We headed for a place called Tacuba in the mountains about 50 km from the border where we meet up with Nick, Ivanka and Glenn again. We spent the night at a place called Mamas and Papas in this tiny little town drinking beer and playing cards. El Salvador has been described by the UN as the most dangerous place on earth without a war but so far the people seem to be real friendly, even if they all carry guns. The police passed us last night all wearing balaclavas and carrying huge weapons which was a bit worrying though.

The next morning we took a few guides (www. Imposibletours.com) and headed out into the jungle in a 4×4 to go and explore. We drove through coffee plantations down some track (broke down and had to change vehicles) for about an hour, then hiked through the jungle for 2 hours until we reached a gorge and the river El Naranho. This is where the fun started.

We now had to descend through the gorge jumping and abseiling from waterfalls into the torrent of a river flowing through. We were the first people to do this since the rainy season started so it was new to our guides as well. There have been landslides and trees washed down changing the lay of the land since they were last there. Jumping into these rivers was completely nuts in parts. One of the guides had to jump first to see if it was OK, no one had any idea if it was until he jumped. Some waterfalls were too high to jump off so we had to abseil down through the flow holding on to an old rope for dear life. The last fall was a 60 meters drop but the water was too fast to jump into (luckily enough) so we abseiled down. I would really hate to get injured in there, the only way out would be by chopper for sure. It was then a two hour walk back through the jungle to the car, then another hour’s ride to the guest house where we were met with beautiful burritos and beer. Another cracked of a day…..  

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I have just received news that My Mum has passed away unexpectedly, I’m totally gutted and on my way to Ireland. Love you Mum